Don't Overthink Things
by seriousblahblah
Summary: James Potter was everything Hermione had always been trying to avoid in her life. Arrogant. Cruel. A golden boy with a golden snitch in his hands. JamesHermione.
1. Names

**So I just finished one of my stories and it had James in it, so I thought I'd give James Potter a chance because he's an interesting guy! With glasses.** **If you like this story and prefer Sirius, you might also like 'Sky Full of Stars' my other WIP. Thanks and hope someone likes this :)**

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 **Summary: James Potter was everything she'd been avoiding all her life.**

 **Title: Don't Overthink Things**

 **Pairing: James/Hermione**

 **Genre: Time Travel**

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 **1.**

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.

"What is your name?"

"James Potter."

Hermione winced. "I think I hurt my head."

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.

"I'm serious, I'm James Potter." He followed after her. "Why should that surprise you?"

Hermione rounded on him suddenly. "It doesn't," she said a bit too shortly. Though she was irritated and annoyed in equal measure by his need to follow her everywhere like a lovestruck schoolboy. She was starting to understand why Lily Evans had hated him so much...Well before she... No, she better not think about that.

She shook her head and turned on him. "Mister James Potter, or Prongs or whatever you call yourself."

James's nostrils flared as she spoke. His pride obviously wounded.

"This isn't," she continued impatiently, "about you. Sorry. I just need to find my way home."

"I'll help you." His hazel eyes met hers with determination. "I'll help you," he repeated, "do whatever it is you need to do."

Hermione suddenly felt very weary. "You're very stubborn aren't you?" she stared at him with his unruly hair, square jaw and annoyingly handsome smile with his nerdy bottlecoke glasses. "You're not going to let this go and go away if I tell you to?"

He grinned. "No."

.

* * *

.

"This is Mooney, Padfoot, and Peter."

Hermione raised a brow, studying James then Peter with curious interest.

"Doesn't he have a nickname too?" she asked, though she already knew the answer. _Wormtail._ Still she wondered if a lack of preferential treatment was the reason why Peter Pettigrew had later turned. The pudgy blonde boy looked so harmless.

"Oh, he has one. It's just not that catchy...and a bit wormy." James tipped his head in a coy way as his eyes met hers.

His eyes were so invitingly mischievous that she couldn't help but smile back.

Whoever said that Sirius Black was the mischievous one had obviously not met James Potter.

She watched as he tossed the golden snitch in his hands once more and caught it. A flicker of gold light.

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 **Next part posted tommorow if someone wants to read it! Thanks and have a nice day! :-)**


	2. Theories

**Thanks to Guest, Guest, Guest, Sereniterose,** **zainahhussain.241** **and smithback for reviewing :-) so glad you liked it :-) I will try to update this story daily as long as people want to read it :D**

 **oh btw the song for this story is pillowtalk by zayn, i love that guy so much**

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 **2.**

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"Why exactly are you going through my parent's library?" James asked, still tossing his golden snitch while keeping a step behind her as if she were another golden shiny thing he didn't want to let out of his sight.

She smirked. She was used to it by now of him following her like a shadow.

"I have a theory."

"Oh yes?" his voice rumbled playfully in his throat. "And what of?"

She ran her hand across the dusty spines of some ancient books.

"That I might be ruining history."

James's hand followed hers along the spine of the book so that they were both stroking it.

"And how might you be doing that?" he breathed in a quiet 'indoor voice' she hadn't been sure James Potter was capable of.

She exhaled. Wishing that she could take away everything she knew of the future.

"By being here."

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* * *

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"You're not really from here are you?"

"No."

Somehow she couldn't bring herself to lie to him. Not when his hazel eyes held hers in so much trust.

"Where are you from really?"

"Where am I from _really_?" She shook her head as she began to realize the enormity of the trouble she was in. "Is it that obvious that I'm not from here?"

James was everbright. Just like when he was flying hundreds of meters in the sky after a snitch, he didn't miss a beat.

"We've never seen you - none of us have ever seen you around here before now yet you seem to know your way around without being told."

His eyes met hers and she shuddered as his hand reached for hers.

"And you seem to know people without ever having met them."

A few strands of his inky black hair fell into his eyes.

"You try to hide it," he said softly, "but it's like you know things."

And that was the first time James Potter took away her breathe.

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Next part posted tommorow if someone wants to read it! The next chapter will be longer and has some fluffy action in it. This a 10 part story :-)

By the way, does anyone have the perfect cast for James? I used Matthew Goode in the avatar because he has this mischievious smugness to him...but he has blue eyes and no glasses, so i wondered who you think might make a better James? Thanks!

~barky~


	3. Sunlight

Thanks to smithback, zaina and pianomouse for reviewing! Here's the next part!

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3.

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"Tell me."

They sat by a tree.

Hermione mentally debated with herself if she could tell him.

She bit her lip. Except it was so damn complicated because she didn't even know if she could go back now or if she had inevitably thrown a monkey wrench into the timeline of things.

Just as treading on one butterfly could change everything in the future.

What if she when she went back it was changed irrevocably anyways?

"I don't know James," she finally stumbled, feeling so inadequate. "It's so complicated and I don't even know if I _can_ tell you."

How could she tell him that he was going to die? Let alone that she had seen everything in the future?

But there was something in James Potter's eyes that wouldn't take no for an answer.

She dared to say something truthful finally.

"What if I said that you were going to die early?"

She expected him to get angry or suspicious, instead he was the picture of perfect calm. As if she'd just told him that he was going to get detention or fall down a hole. _Not die_. He didn't show any fear.

And what he did next threw her breathe away for a second time.

"I'd say, we all have a time for living and to make use of it now." He pressed his lips to hers and suddenly her hands were in his hair and she was dragged down, by her own aching thighs, into the green green grass.

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The grass pressed up against her back and his hazel eyes shifted above her with the sun and changing clouds behind him.

She blinked as sun, and James, got in her line of vision. Temporarily blinding her with their brightness.

"This is insane," she whispered.

James smiled down at her.

There was something so sincere in his hazel eyes.

"Don't think about it too much." He smirked and his tongue darted out to lave at her neck. Worshiping her body.

And either it was the heat or the warm grass beneath her but then she was lifting up her own skirt and his roughened palms traced along her soft pale skin unkissed by the sun.

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an - ugh i'm really not sure if i like this chapter but if you liked it or want to continue reading, just say so and I will post the next part tomorrow :-)

thanks

oh and someone said they liked aaron johnson as james and he is awesome too! but he still has blue eyes and no glasses. for some reason its hard to find guys with brown eyes and glasses!


	4. Like a Song

_Thanks to alexandria, guest, sereniterose, guest pianomouse and smithback for reviewing :-) The song for this chapter is adele's when we were young. I actually like that song much more than hello..i kind of find Hello extremely boring for some reason. anyways thanks and warning: this chapter is a bit like a poem because I used to like writing poetry so that might've seeped in a bit :) Tell me what you think!_

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 ** _"You're just like a movie, you're just like a song." -Adele, When We Were Young_**

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 **4.**

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.

He was golden.

Everything about James Potter was golden like the snitch he held in his hands.

He could take you to heights above the clouds and then dive with you, pulse racing, back to the ground. And then just when you thought you were going to crash, he pulled you up again at the very last second.

The way he played quidditch was the way he made love to you.

With exhilaration.

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.

"Don't overthink things," he said and then his white hot mouth was pressed against hers and breathing down her neck as he pulled at her shirt and demanded access to her flesh.

What was the future of the world? When you had James Potter above you, telling you were beautiful and everything he wanted?

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* * *

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"Hermione," he gasped as they writhed around, pulling at each others hair and entertwining limbs. Somehow their playful innocent tumble in the grass had gone past the point of no return.

"James."

She sat on top of him, straddling him.

Her hair stuck to her face with sweat and his strong thighs rubbed against hers chaffing it with friction.

"Hurry."

James wanted to pelter sweet kisses all up and down her throat but she could not take his mischievous teasing any longer.

She didn't even realize how aggressive she was being, she tugged at his collar and screamed profanities until he flipped them around and he was above her again.

It felt like everything in her body, in the universe, was being ripped apart at the seams.

She saw his hand clutch at a fistful of grass as he entered her. and obliterated any sense of the self she had before.

Then an explosion.

A tiny microcosm of the big bang.

Universes exploding. expanding. collapsing inside themselves in an infinite rhythym.

Her mouth hung open in shock, her red swollen lips, her glossy eyes taking in everything as if were new.

as if everything were louder, more in tune

She thought she could hear every insect, every ant, every leaf turning, every creature that ever made a sound as her ear pressed against the ground.

Her eyes only opened again as the cord of tension snapped like a bungee cord. Off a cliff she and James had just jumped off of. James laughing as if her fear were the funniest thing in the world.

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* * *

.

 _Don't think about it too much._

Except that she always did think too much.

She was Hermione Granger. She didn't belong here.

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"I've fucked up my best friend," she shouted and pulled at her hair, "I've fucked up everything!"

There were grass stains on her dress. She walked back up the field, away from him. Refusing to even look at him, as if that could undo the damage.

James was frantic. He obviously had no idea what she was talking about. Of course not. She'd still not told him the truth and she must have been freaking him out.

He kept telling her to calm down, but she couldn't.

.

* * *

.

How could she tell him that she might have just had her best friend unborn?

* * *

.

The worst part is the scent of grass, and him, carried with her. Seeped into her very bones and etched itself in letters of JP and HG against her very being. Like a lovestruck teenager carved his initials into a tree.

James Potter had written his initials into her very soul.

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Next part posted tomorrow if someone wants to read it!...thanks :-)

~barky~


	5. Tears

Thanks to smithback, guest (who said they were same guest as yesterday! thank you), sereniterose and exlibris93 for reviewing :-) This chapter is short but I will put up another one, that's longer, tomorrow :)

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5.

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How could she tell him that she might have just had her best friend unborn?

Tears, for Harry, glimmered down her face.

"Tell me again," she asked hopelessly "who you love?"

"You, not Lily."

 _Fuck. Fuck. Fuck._ "No," she breathed in between tears. "No, can't you see it's not supposed to be this way. You're supposed to love Lily, Lily Evans. You're supposed to marry and have children with her."

James looked almost as if she had betrayed him. " _Where_ do you get these ideas?"

More tears streamed down her face.

"The future is uncertain," James said resolutely. "I don't know where you get these ideas." He admitted almost guiltily, "but yes it was true once, I used to obsess over Lily and tell everyone I would marry Lily, but that's past now." He grimaced. "Who told you about it anyways? Sirius? Remus? Peter?"

Hermione took in a rattling breathe. So he thought that she was referring to his past?

Oh the irony.

She grasped at her forehead. "Oh James, I know that you _used_ to obsess over Lily and all that but -" he met her tear stricken eyes "-but it's not that, it's me."

James suddenly became thunderous like mercury.

"Who is he?" he growled. "I'll kill him."

Hermione could not believe the insanity, the complete 180 degrees, of his response. He thought that _she_ was with someone else when really it was he who had been with Lily. Or rather should've been with Lily in the future or past or whatever you wanted to call it now. Yet now he was freaking out at the suggestion that she might even be with another guy. What a hypocrite.

She crossed her arms and wiped away the tears from her eyes.

"You want to know who he is?"

"Yes!" he practically shouted. "I _really_ want to know who he is."

"Harry," she said, for want of anything else to say.

"Right," James said almost calmly. "I'm going to kill Harry. I'm sorry if you prefer him to me, but I can't really have it."

"This is insane," Hermione repeated.

His lips quirked ever so slightly in a smile. "I know. You've said that before."

.

* * *

He had no idea Harry was _his_ son, not her _lover_.

And right now, his jealousy was almost too amusing to correct him.

.

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Sorry this chapter is short! Also I've changed my mind about Aaron Johnson being James after seeing some amazing marauder vids with him and ben barnes and andrew garfield as the marauders. usually i imagine gary as sirius, but there are some amazing fanvids with ben. I will link a few on my profile :)

watch?v=zsCjvlZXDuk


	6. Mess

**Thanks so much to smithback, zaina, exlibris93, and guest for reviewing :-)**

 **Sorry about the delay, I ended up writing three extra pages for this chapter lastnight but it didn't fit in with my original plan for this story and then I fell asleep...but I'll be using those extra scenes for another Jamione story after this one :)**

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 **oh and here is a bonus deleted scene (which was going to be part of chapter 6 but really didn't fit with the rest):**

 **"So this Harry guy must be pretty fantastic if he can even hold a candle to me."**

 **"Oh you have no idea."**

 **.**

 **James Potter was bloody buggering stubborn. He refused to let the topic of Harry go. As if she could forget her best friend in the first place, she already felt guilty about it, but now he was bringing it up every five minutes. She was tempted at several points to just obliviate him and give him and Lily a lovepotion so they could get back together again.**

 **.**

 **It would be like she was never even here.**

 **Except she'd still not found a way to get back.**

 **.**

 **Plus James kept following her everywhere with that bloody Map.**

 **.**

 **"If you ask about Harry one more time, I'm going to strangle you."**

 **James grinned.**

 **"Who is _Harry_ again?"**

 **.**

 **If there was one thing James did not do, it was give up.**

 **.**

 **"You're actually a lot like Harry," she said finally to pacify him, after he'd asked about Harry for the _thousandth_ time.**

 **"Oh," he tossed his snitch in the air, "So you have a type then. Interesting. Very helpful to know."**

 **Hermione gripped her wand and really, _really_ , contemplated obliviating him. Though she knew she would miss the annoying bastard for the rest of eternity.**

 **"Does he have glasses like me?"**

 **"Yes."**

 **"Does he have awesome hair like me?" James said and made an effort of flopping said floppy tosseled amazingly awesome hair.**

 **"Again, yes."**

 **James frowned.**

 **"Hmm. Wait, but I bet he doesn't play quidditch like me?"**

 **Hermione placed her hands on her hips. "Actually he does. He's a star player and the youngest seeker ever on his team."**

 **"Dammit, I hate this guy."**

 **"Actually," she corrected. "You'd love him."**

 **"Like you do?"**

 **She lowered her voice. "I love Harry. But not that way."**

 **That was enough for James though and he fist pumped the air in victory.**

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 **6.**

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"This is..." _insane_ , she mouthed. _Reckless and irresponsible_ were other words that came to mind.

"I know," James said softly.

They were holding hands and walking down a path by a stream. As if nothing existed out of their little world. Hermione and James. James and Hermione. Walking by the stream as the sound of gurgling water filled her ears.

The corners of his lips tugged into a smirk as he looked at her. "You don't have to say it all the time. It kind of hurts my feelings."

Hermione grinned wickedly. She'd learned to enjoy torturing him. James had so much pride-and arrogance sometimes-that it was easy to get him going.

"Tell me about Prongs, again," she teased.

She loved the way he grinned back at her.

.

* * *

.

They sat by the stream as he told her about the adventures of the Marauders and she listened for hours just watching the way his mouth moved, the way his eyes lit up when he spoke of his friends. Especially Sirius's pranks.

She could listen to him talk forever. But James being James, he had things other than talking in mind. He was the one, he said, that came up with the motto of 'I solemnly swear I'm up to no good.'

"I'm the leader, the alpha of the pack." He winked. "Your head is so big, I'm surprised it hasn't fallen off," she muttered.

Then one thing led to another and James was pulling her towards the water. She screamed as he threw her in.

The water was ice cold. Even though it was a summer's day. The cold water pressed in on her like so many ice cold fingers, trying to drag her away with its current.

.

Their fingers intertwined as James pressed lingering kisses up her throat. Warming her. With his body and his touch.

The water flowed around them in torrent currents while James kept them safely anchored to the shore, her legs wrapped around his waist.

Silt and pebbles fell down from the muddy river's bank and into her hair.

She felt like a naiad, a water sylph, in his arms.

.

* * *

"How long are you going to stay?"

She looked up at the stars then down at him. It felt like there were infinite worlds, infinite possibilities, a blink in the galaxy.

She pressed her thumb to his lips, the full sensual lips she'd come to love.

"I don't know," she told him.

He opened his mouth and drew her thumb into his mouth, licking at it.

* * *

.

If she was honest, she had no way of getting back that she knew of.

If she was really honest, she would miss the bastard in any future, universe, timeline without him.

.

He'd written himself on her soul.

His lips pattered down kisses across her wrist and across her collarbone as she tried to tell him about Voldemort.

He didn't take her warnings very seriously.

"They're nothing but a bunch of Slytherins, like that creep Snape," he jeered.

But he told her he would fight, for her.

Because he knew she was a muggleborn, and he would not let anything happen to her. His surety took her breathe away. and it was interesting how things were falling both into place and out of place at the same time. Somethings in the timeline speeding up, while others lagged behind or didn't happen at all.

Sometimes. it felt like she was finger painting with the thread lines and timelines of fate.

Sometimes. Really getting her hands dirty and painting with her own blood and those of the people she knew.

.

There was so much responsibility.

.

* * *

.

"You're ruining everything. You've mucked up James's life, can't you see that?!" his parents demanded of her.

Tears brimmed her eyes but she dared not show her weakness or breakdown. They were nice, kind, people but they loved their son with a ferocity that knew no bounds.

Her voice cracked but she managed to keep it even. "It wasn't _my_ decision, to join the Order of the Phoenix. It was James's choice."

That did not please them any less. That their only son was throwing his life away willingly.

"James had a bright future ahead of him!" Dorea Potter roared, her eyes staring hatefully at Hermione.

Sometimes irony didn't make you laugh. Sometimes irony could make you cry.

If only she could tell them that, _No, she was actually saving his life._

James Potter never had a bright future ahead of him. Until she came along, he would've died at 21.

He would've died if it weren't for her.

She was sacrificing everything, Harry, everything for him.

.

The guilt ate up at her sometimes.

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a/n-So I realize this chapter is a bit of a mess but if you still want to read, let me know and I'll try to make the next chapter better or smuttier for tomorrow :) thanks


	7. Beliefs

**Thanks so much to guest, smithback, sereniterose, zaina, exlibris93 for reviewing, you don't know how much that means :-)**

 **Warning: This chapter is a bit fluffy...**

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 **7.**

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They lay together with her hand gently strumming against his broad chest, tracing the lines of the muscles he gained from years of Quidditch practice. The callous on his thumbs from holding onto the broom so much as he flew. The air of the wind that seemed to stay in his tousled hair even when he was on the ground.

Even his fingertips seemed to retain some of the gold from the snitch he always held, cradling it like it was his universe.

He only let the snitch go when he was holding her instead.

"James. What if I told you that you would've died if I hadn't come into your life?"

He took her hand and pressed it to his lips.

"Then I would believe you," he said with utmost sincerity. "You're brilliant but mad, Hermione."

"Do you think I'm crazy?"

 _He would,_ she thought, _if she told him that she was from the future._

"No," he kissed her knuckle. "But I think you place too much store by prophecies and divination. And..." he added with a quirk to his lips, "I think you spend too much time with Sybil Trewlaney. Now _she_ is mad."

Hermione shoved his shoulder. "She's not mad." She bit her lip. Though she thought it once before she understood Trewlaney. "Sybil's brilliant and actually can see into the future."

James traced a finger across her chin and pulled it towards him, so that they were facing each other.

His hazel eyes locked onto hers. By her request, he'd taken off his glasses so she could stare directly into his pools of hazel with their flecks of gold.

"I may not see very well right now, because you took off my glasses." He smirked.

She laughed.

"But I'm looking at my future. I know it." She lost her breathe for a third time as he led her hand to his chest. "I can feel it here."

He placed his hand over his heart.

"It's a bit blurry but it's here."

* * *

.

"I do not need anyone to tell me what the future is, I make my own decisions."

He was so certain.

She made him believe.

His confidence was contagious. He was starting to make her believe.

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* * *

.

He went down on her that night for the first time.

She'd been too embarrassed before to let him see her like that, to love her so thoroughly. But after the way his eyes melted into hers while he told her that she was _his future_...well there was nothing she could deny him.

Her head threw back as she felt the first flick of James Potter's tongue.

Then a thrust.

Quickly her hands settled down into his hair and clutched on for dear life.

Oh merlin. _Sweet sweet merlin._

As she panted and came undone in slow, hot flicks -though it was selfish- she couldn't care less about Lily Evans. She'd lost out and the benefit was that Lily had gone back to Severus Snape and they were dating. Needless to say: strike one. Severus Snape was no longer a Death Eater.

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a/n- I'm not sure where the next chapter will go exactly but does anyone want to see an Order of the Phoenix battle scene or something like that? or more about the details of time travel?

Let me know and I will try to get the next chapter ready, thanks :)

oh and i put some links to awesome james videos on my profile if you want to see that. aaron johnson makes an amazing james!


	8. Scorched

**Thanks to smithback, Delphinea, Lenore, Guest and sereniterose for reviewing, thanks so much. Also I realized ch6 was a bit of a mess so I polished it up and hopefully it makes more sense now. or not :(**

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 **"Nobody but you, nobody but me, nobody but us together** **" -Zayn**

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 **8.**

* * *

Still she mourned for Harry sometimes.

Or _always_ , if she was honest.

.

* * *

Though the more she thought about it. The less clear it became.

If James died, then Harry lived. If Harry lived, then James died.

Almost like two sides of a coin. One life for one life.

.

On mornings where she awoke next to James, she stared at his sleeping form for the longest time and wondered whether she could ever choose.

Who was to say that choosing Harry over James was right? Or choosing James over Harry wasn't? They both deserved to live didn't they?

And if Harry wasn't born was that even in her control anymore?

A couple of weeks ago she'd approached Lily, while she'd been walking with Snape, and asked if she'd take James back.

She'd practically been hexed by the red-headed witch and her Slytherin boyfriend.

* * *

Everything was skittering out of control, and she was lying if she said she could control James, or Lily, or anyone else.

* * *

.

Harry wasn't his mother. He wasn't his father either. Besides looks, well not even in looks.

Harry had Lily's green eyes. His face was narrower, less square.

James had hazel eyes. With flecks of gold in them if he took off his glasses and you looked really really closely.

James had a classic sort of look to his face, though he hid it by being roguish and wearing outrageous hip bottlecoke glasses.

James was tall. Harry was short like his mother.

Harry's laugh was nothing like his father's. No one could make you laugh like James Potter.

Harry couldn't make a joke to save his life. And Harry could never tell what you were thinking, while James Potter could read you like a book in the palm of his hand, if you gave him the chance. If he wanted to impress you.

Or maybe these were differences she'd begun to tell herself to feel less guilty.

It worked only a little.

She could never, never forgive herself for getting Harry unborn.

Though from she had been reading about time travel and the magical foundations of the universe-it looked increasingly certain -that she hadn't really got him unborn.

Harry would still exist and be born in dozens of other parallel universes.

She'd traveled to a parallel universe.

There were still an infinite number of universes where Harry was born.

It was a small comfort whenever she looked past the sky or was hexed during a fight and felt her mortality bleed out of her in drops. The Order of the Phoenix was always fighting. The first war was far bloodier than the second.

There were infinite numbers of worlds where she always stayed with James.

Where they were always meant to be together.

Who was to say which parallel universe was the right one?

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* * *

.

They'd been parted in a battle confrontation with the Death Eaters that night.

Hermione waited frightened for him, in their portkey safe place, to return.

She felt so afraid for James' mortality whenever he returned from a battle bloody.

Just because he would never die as Harry's father didn't make him invincible.

James's shirt was torn beyond recognition when he appeared. His clothes tattered and covered in blood.

And he was grinning.

"You bastard," she whispered, her whole body shaking because she thought she'd lost him again, " _Why_ did you keep on fighting when everyone was leaving."

James just wiped the blood from his bruised cheek. "I got two more down. I did it for you."

.

She screamed his name so loud that night.

* * *

.

"When I was so close to death, I thought of you." He brushed her limp tear-dampened hair out of her face. "I thought of you. I don't ever want to be without you."

He begged her.

He begged her to stay.

When she wouldn't reply, couldn't keep any promises, he _made_ her believe. Punished her with his scorching touch, blazing a trail like the sun across her being. Scorching the earth and removing everything that she had been or could be.

In his arms, she was just Hermione, James's girl, not the past, not the future. She didn't belong to anything else but him. They didn't belong to anyone else except each other.

Scorched. Marked. Entwined.

.

* * *

"Don't ever leave me."

She couldn't.

.

* * *

 **a/n-So I hope this chapter makes sense, and I tried to put both some time explanation and some battle references, so I hope that it was alright! haha and what a cheeky bastard james is. He almost got himself killed but he laughs it off like it's a game and he wants to catch more death eaters!**

 **Let me know if you're still reading and I'll try to get the next chapter done (I think there should be two more and then it will be finished) thanks :)**


	9. Summer and Ceremony

**Thanks to Guest (I stayed up late thanks to you! XD), Sereniterose, Lady Delphinea, meldz, Lenore and smithback for reviewing :-)  
**

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 **9\. Summer and Ceremony**

* * *

It was a bright summer's day. The type of summer's day that lives long in your memory after the sun has gone down and all its flowers have wilted away.

Where everything is green and brighter and even the air is louder, more alive because of the constant chirping of birds and humming of grasshoppers and critters in the grass.

Where even the petals of a flower are warm to the touch; baked by the sun as they were, they carried the same resonance.

The same heat that seemed to seep into your bones, settling there with a dull harmony.

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* * *

.

"How long are you staying?"

She wore white.

"You don't need to ask me that anymore."

Thinking, _James it's our bloody wedding._

"I know. I just like to be sure." James grinned and tried to laugh it off as if were just a passing thought and not something that troubled him. "If I'm going to ask you to be my wife out there." He stiffened. "It's not too late to turn back."

Hermione smirked and ran her hand up his tux. "I think I've rubbed off on you. You never used to want to be so sure."

James held her hand tightly. "I guess I've got more to lose." His voice shook with emotion he'd been restraining until now. "I just want to be sure I'm making the right choice."

"You'd be dead if it weren't for me."

"You say that as if it's not some joke."

She reached up her free hand to caress his face, his handsome square face she loved. She tried to smirk back the tears because she knew she had made the right decision to save his life. "Don't overthink things James, it's not your style. You're much too mischievous for that."

.

"James!" Marla, one of her bridesmaids shrieked, "You're not supposed to be in here and see Hermione in her dress before she comes out! You're completely breaking all the rules of the ceremony!"

"Gotta go," James grinned.

She pulled at his blue silk tie she'd chosen for him and planted a quick kiss on his cheek.

"I'll see you down the aisle."

Then she turned back away from him before she completely ruined her mascara.

.

* * *

.

It was supposed to be a happy day, but for the love of Merlin, she could not stop crying.

As she walked down the aisle of the backyard of James's house, she couldn't help blubbering when she saw all the smiling and alive faces.

Lily Evans with Snape.

Even though they hadn't got along. Lily had managed to make amends and, both being Phoenixes, had dragged a begrudging Severus along to the wedding. Hermione had to stifle a laugh. Even the young Severus looked sort of cheerful in his black robes, though he kept darting surly looks at James Potter. He wasn't a Death Eater but he still was grumpy.

Then there was Remus and Sirius.

Sirius was so young and handsome, still unbroken by the war, though it continued fighting. He'd never had the heartache of betrayal.

Remus, though still plagued by his condition, managed to look wholesome and good in his blue tux. His blonde hair and face pleasant despite the scars of lycanthropy. He sat near the front of the congregation with Marlene McKinnon beside him. Her beaded hippy purse and black stilettos clicking impatiently but every now and then her henna painted hands would reach out to squeeze Remus's scarred hand.

Dorcas Meadowes sat next to them with the Prewett twins, Benjy Fenwick and his sister Julia. Hermione exchanged a small smile with Julia who was dressed in purple. Sirius was fond of Julia like the younger sister he never had and she noticed Sirius often winking at the young muggle. There was nothing his parents would've liked less than for him to marry a muggle, so Hermione had a striking suspicion that if the infamous Mr. Black ever got tied down, that is exactly what he would do.

Lastly, against all hopes and in the back row, sat Regulus Arturius Black. Also known as R.A.B. to her and Harry and Ron when they'd been trying to destroy the Horcruxes.

A tear shed down her face and even from a distance Regulus's keen eyesight seemed to catch it and know it was for him. It was only with James's influence that they were able to turn Regulus' around. James had such a way with people, he really was a leader and could talk his way into anything.

A heavy weight pressed down on her heart, and despite promising herself she wouldn't ugly cry at her own wedding, she started to gasp in heavy sobs. She didn't have any handkerchief either so she just dabbed at her eyes with the flowers of her bouquet. The bright golden begonias caught her tears in their petals.

As she reached the altar, she heard Sirius elbow James and say "Merlin, what did you do to her, she's crying?"

James exchanged a significant look with her. "I made her happy."

* * *

.

"Do you Hermione J. Granger take James Potter to be your lawfully wedded wizard through sickness and health til death to you part?"

She breathed out an inaudible gasp.

"Yes."

.

* * *

.

a/n: Please vote if you want to see James and Hermion's wedding dance or Sirius's best man speech, or if you prefer Voldemort killing everybody, vote below! Also does anyone know a good song from before the 1970s that they could dance to? Thanks :)... and you can expect a baby soon!

 **Also note: I am in love with chinaglaze's stories so, with her permission, I put her OC character Julia in a cameo appearance as one of the wedding guests. She is the girl in the purple dress!**

 **PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE read and review chinaglaze's stories "Secret Life of a Blackdog" and "Finding The Way Home", they are Sirius romances and trust me, they are amazing, complete and bring on the heat **cough cough smut**! Do not be fooled by her summary, that British lady knows her smut! (and to any Anglophiles, everything about her stories are spot on and just simmer with authentic English culture!)**


	10. Best Man

Wowsers thank you to everyone who reviewed and voted on the last chapter! Truly that made my day(s) and I was overwhelmed by the response! Thank you to aira nabihah, chinadoll, the-clumsy-one, Guest (thanks again!), alexandria15, lady delphinea :), sereniterose!, morethanbooks, beanche, Smithback for their amazing reviews!

You voted for both Sirius's best man speech and their wedding dance, so I included both :D

Special thanks to sereniterose who gave me some amazing music recommendations from the 70s! I really loved discovering and listening to Jackson5, Minnie Riperton and the Carpenters!

**If you haven't listened to The Carpenters, their songs "Close to You" and "We've only just begun" are amazing, and I used "We've only just begun" as their wedding song! Listen to it now so you can understand their dance because the lyrics match James and Hermione perfectly :)**

* * *

10\. Best Man

* * *

 _Somebody pinch me,_ Hermione thought, as Sirius stood up from their table with a giant smirk on his face.

Sirius was here, alive, and about to give his best man's speech for James. At her wedding.

It was almost too much to take. She blotted at the corners of her eyes with a well worn tissue and cursed herself that she hadn't studied anti-smudging makeup charms better. All that studying and she hadn't even learned the basics of applying magicked makeup. Beside her, James caught her hand as she tried to fix the mascara on one of her eyes. "Relax," he mouthed the word and smirked at her. "If Sirius is going to embarrass anyone with his speech, it's going to be me, not you. No one has any dirt on you." He pressed her hand reassuringly.

She just stared wide-eyed at him, wondering when he had become more mature than her, that he was the one who reassured her emotionally.

And didn't he look a bit worried despite what he said?

She shook her head.

No, if they knew, well there might not be a wedding at all and James might hate her for it.

"Ahem, can I have your attention?" Sirius smirk was wider than the Cheshire cat's as he stood up in front of the some 500 guests.

Hermione stole a glance at James and noticed that he actually did look somewhat worried now what his best man, and friend, would say about him. In front of everyone, including his elderly parents.

Oh dear. She really hoped Sirius didn't push the envelop too far.

James gripped her hand tighter.

Sirius cleared his throat. "It is traditional, for the best man, as the groom's long suffering best friend, to humiliate him as much as possible." He winked at James and Hermione thought she caught some kind of panicked hand gesture pass between the two marauders.

"However," Sirius added and lifted his champagne flute in the air. "What kind of friend would I be, if I really dug up the dirt on my longest and eldest friend?"

James shifted in his seat and Hermione stared uncomfortably between him and the crowd, wondering what he would reveal next.

"You see, James being James, I could probably sit here and talk all night about all the stupid things James has done...like carve his name on the whomping willow, genius James well done, playing quidditch during a thunder storm, riding a hippogryff without a helmet, pantsing the Slytherins and a whole list of other reckless things that almost cost him his life...and which were a lot of fun. Yet I like to think that James stopped making stupid decisions at some point." Sirius's voice became more sober. "And I think the proof of that is here tonight." He pointed at Hermione. "Hermione. You're the reason, James stopped being a prat and grew up a little. And I don't think it's an exaggeration to say, that in many ways, you've helped turn things around for him. And I have to thank you, because as much as it pained and amused me, I don't think I could've watched James stalk Lily Evans for any more years. I mean she clearly hated him! Nice to see he finally got the message! After seven years!"

The crowd jeered. No one louder than Lily Evans herself, who hollered that she still preferred the giant squid over him.

Hermione fell politely silent, knowing what she knew. While James looked crossed between humiliation and wanting to kick Sirius.

Sirius could barely continue his speech for all the ruckus he had stirred up. But finally the crowd simmered down enough and he was able to continue. The animagus swiped back his long hair from his face and his grey eyes met hers with true endearment in them.

"You see, I really am thankful to you Hermione. You showed James what love is and it's not always about what's convenient or what we want, but what happens. If it weren't for you, James being the thick prat he is, would still be chasing after Evans. Despite how hopeless the situation was."

The crowed erupted into angry boos again and no one looked more angry than Lily and Snape. Snape especially looked like he wanted to storm out of there, though the corner of Lily's lips were twitching.

Sirius screamed over the crowd and their booing died down a bit and his trademark smirk returned to his face.

James's parents looked scandalized when Sirius added that he was tired of listening to the sound of James wanking off to the sound of Lily, _my lily flower,_ in the Gryffindor dormitory. "It's called a silencio spell, James. No one needed to listen to your cries for your Lily flower while slogging off."

James covered his face with his hands though he appeared to be shaking with laughter.

"It's true and you know it," Sirius bellowed.

"Fuck you," James muttered back.

"Oh god," Hermione whispered, going red for James's sake.

"Fortunately he fell madly in love with you Hermione and didn't have a choice but to move on...Of course he didn't have a choice, I mean look at you-" Sirius waved a hand at her and wolf whistles broke out. Hermione blushed, especially when she noticed one of those whistling was Remus Lupin, her former professor. He also looked embarrassed when she caught him whistling and looked down quickly at his cup.

"So thank you Hermione for showing James what it's like to finally be with a woman who doesn't despise him. You're one in a million...I mean, you'd have to be to put up with James!"

"Padfoot enough! Cut it out," James warned.

The guests started clapping.

"Why are they clapping?" James asked in panic.

More embarrassing anecdotes about James were shared until finally Remus had to drag Sirius off stage and rip the microphone out of his hand.

"That was humiliating," James whispered to her.

Hermione just laughed wildly, she couldn't stop laughing. Though Sirius had actually gone pretty easy on James considering the amount of nonsense and shenanigans James had gotten up to as an adolescent. What Sirius said wasn't the half of it. Not the least.

Sirius walked over to their table and wrapped his arms around James in a bear hug. Then with everyone cheering him on, Sirius hollered at the band to start playing.

.

The crowd erupted into wild cheers as "We've only just begun" by The Carpenters began to play.

Hermione covered her face with her hands.

"Oh my god."

But James tugged at her hand and pulled her on the dance floor as the lights dimmed.

Everybody cleared the space so that it was just them in the center.

Hermione felt as shaky as a leaf, blown away by the wind, if not for James's strong arms holding her up. She leaned onto his sturdy chest for support. He was her anchor.

"I'm so happy," she dared to say. Her fingers nervously pulling at the hair at the back of his neck where his short hair ended.

 _"We've only just begun,"_ James mouthed the words of the song to her and stroked a curl of her hair back.

Hermione covered her mouth, beginning to cry again, her bottom lip trembling. James cradled her in his arms and slowly swayed them to the music. She clung onto his shoulders for dear life.

"We've only just begun, I promise Hermione. We'll make it. I will protect you." He whispered a bunch of sweet nothings she could barely catch over the loudness of the music and her own beating heart.

But somewhere in between the music and James sturdy shoulders, she knew it would be alright. It would be okay. She hadn't ruined everything. She hadn't chosen this but they would make do.

 _"So much of life ahead. And yes we've just begun."_

.

.

 **OKAY so this is not the end, there'll be one more chapter! I just have to edit it! Thanks so much to everyone for the support! :D :D and if you haven't already listen to "We've Only Just Begun" by The Carpenters, they're seriously amazing!** **Did anyone think Sirius went too far in his best man speech?**

 **Question: How many children do you think James and Hermione should have? 10? 1? Harry jr?**


	11. Insane Bonus chapter, not final chapter

This is not the final chapter, it's a bonus chapter...and really crazy! The final chapter will be coming eventually, well you'll see why if you read this chapter...but anyways, deepest apologies and hope you had an awesome weekend...and also this is what happens when you stay up too late and...well...you'll see...or you'll hate it...and run for the hills...

Thanks to everyone that reviewed, and special thanks to last two guests :-)

* * *

 **My Name is James Potter I'm the Best at Quidditch...and ...at being awesome...and uh...uh...at everything! Because I'm awesome and perfect like that!  
**

* * *

"Hello y'all, it's James Potter-bitch!

"Uh, actually my name is just James Potter, not James Potter bitch but I added in that little muggle swear word because I heard it somewhere and I thought it'd give me street cred or something."

James scratches his head, self-conciously.

"Well, I guess that didn't work out."

[Awkward pause.]

"Wait! Don't leave yet! Please, c'mon I'm James Potter, I'm pretty interesting! Give me a chance!"

Reader snubs their nose, "I really don't think so Mr. James Potter. At least not today, you've been as about as charming and entertaining as a toerag in the lake."

But instead of looking sad, James Potter grins.

"Really? You really think that?"

Reader scratches head. "Why would you take that as a compliment, I insulted you?"

James just grins wider. "I know but it reminds me of my Lily, my sweet Lily flower! She insults me and calls me a toerag too! It's kind of heartwarming."

Reader looks distinctly uncomfortable like they are talking to a pervert. "Err... do you have some kind of insult fetish where you get off on people insulting you?"

James Potter's eyes widen.

"What? Whoever told you that?! Wait, it was Sirius wasn't it?" James Potter laughs and messily messes up his already messy, perfect short black hair...which looks like a model's hair and Calvin Klein underwear model. "Damn the little lying pureblood bugger!" James laughs even deeper. "Sirius is always telling people I have strange fetishes!" James blushes. "Last time he told Minerva McGonagall I had a cat fetish and that was why I was late for class with cat hairs on my robes. Sirius must've planted the cat hairs on me the night before! Can you imagine, the humiliation?"

James chuckles. "Remus, Peter and all the Gryffindors students couldn't stop making purring noises for the rest of the week! Oh it was classic!"

Reader raises their brow. "Uh...didn't you say it was humiliating? Why are you laughing you moron?"

James Potter takes out his quidditch trunk and pouts, sitting on top of the trunk as the quaffle shakes violently inside.

"Well, it was humiliating, but it was also _hilarious!_ " He grins. "Sirius couldn't stop laughing especially, he said I liked hairy pu—"

Reader is just about done here, with his huge ego and weird fetishes. "Uh, don't tell me! Please keep it to yourself, yuck!" Crosses arms in disgust. "James Potter, I'm just about done listening to your weird rants. You obviously have some weird fetishes and I really do think you _like_ being insulted. Goodbye!"

Reader stomps off.

"Wait! Hold on a minute!" He grabs the reader by their wrist and gently pulls them back.

Reader throws a fit and yells loudly, "Get off me, pervert!"

James blushes and immediately let's go of the reader. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have grabbed you."

"You think?!" the reader shouts, still rubbing at their wrist, though it's not hurt.

James gulps and looks guilty. "I'm not actually a pervert..." He scratches self-consciously at his neck. "I just didn't want you to go."

Reader crosses arms. "That's amusing, but don't you have other little cronies you can show off to? I think I'm done entertaining you here."

Reader begins to trot off again.

"Wait!" James calls out and chases after the reader with more confidence. "You haven't seen me play quidditch yet!"

Reader pauses for ever so slightly a moment. Then raises a brow, because they _have_ heard about his playing skills. Still, they don't want to stroke his ego anymore than it already is inflated...probably as inflated as the Goodyear blimp.

So, they pretend to be coy, like they don't know James Potter was the best quidditch player of his age. Like ever.

Reader raises their brow and peers up skeptically at James, like he's just a fly swirling around and making a lot of embarrassing loud noise.

"Now, why would I want to do that?"

James grins. As he eagerly tells them, like he has a thousand times to other readers. "Because I am the best Quidditch player, Hogwarts ever had."

Reader laughs. Though they have to give James some credit. He doesn't give up does he?

He's about as persistent as malaria _and_ just as annoying. Like a fly you want to swat. Except he's six feet tall and lanky and dressed in Quidditch gear with a Gryffindor red jersey. With that annoying smug look on his face.

But the reader's not just going to let James Potter get to them. No way.

"The best Quidditch player ever? Now I find that hard to believe." The reader walks imperiously around James and point at his trunk. "How would you even know you're "the best player ever", if you haven't even played in a professional tournament or seen what the future holds?"

"Don't remind me of the future," James says darkly and, for once, the sparkle goes out of his eyes. Before it returns seconds later. "I live in the present!"

Reader rolls their eyes. "I'm off too! Into a future and present _without_ James Potter or any of their arrogance."

"Now hold on just a second, you said you were going to watch me play!"

The reader is indignant. "I said no such thing!"

"Uhh you didn't?"

"Obviously not!" the reader cries.

"...Because I'm pretty sure while your mouth said no, your body was saying yes."

The reader slaps James across the face. "You ARE a pervert!"

"Now, c'mon!"

"No!"

"Please? I swear you're going to love seeing me shoot some hoops!"

"Oh what, you play basketball now too? What else flying hockey?"

James looks confused. "What's flying hockey?" But then he grins. "Well, baby whatever gets you off, I'll do flying hockey sticks too if that gets you o-OW!"

The reader just slapped James hard across the face.

James clutches his cheek. "What was that for?!"

The readers stomps and places their hands on their hips. "You know you have a lot of nerve, offering to play quidditch and all that when what you were actually supposed to be doing was updating this story and putting the last chapter up for fucks's sake."

"Ohhh...oppps...well..that was...sort of...my writer's fault. They wrote the whole story but then forgot to write the ending. I think they're afraid of ending things."

"You're writer sounds like a bloody moron, just like you! And I think I'm just about done here!"

Reader stomps off.

"Wait..." James calls out to the reader before they finally leave. "If I promise to harass my writer and not leave them in peace until they update, will you stay?" James grins eagerly and reader tries to ignore that sappy smile.

"Maybe." Reader crosses their arms. "I might stick around...and see whatever lame quidditch thing you want to show me. But you better not even let the writer sleep or anything until they finish your story."

James smiles cheekily. "It's already done! I'm good at harassing people!"

Reader deadpans. "Uhh yeah that's something to be really proud of."

"I have a lot of pride too! Did I tell you once I played for Pride of Portree and scored the highest goals except...blah blah blah blah."

Reader just shrugs and walks away. "What an arrogant prat."

James Potter, the famous quidditch player looks panicked for a moment, but then he smiles again.

"They'll be coming back!"

"NO I WON'T!" The reader calls back angrily.

"YES YOU WILL!" James calls back.

"NO I WON'T! I HATE YOU!"

James sighs. "Don't worry about her, Lily was just the same way, but I have a feeling they'll be coming back!

James laughs as he sees the reader start walking back towards him. "See! Didn't I tell you, they're coming back! Owww!"

The reader smiles primly as the punched James Potter, the famous quidditch player, in the face and then stomped off again.

James nursed his swollen lip. "Oh, well I guess they came back to punch me." James pouts glumly for all of two seconds before he stands up again. "Well, I'm just going to find my writer, maybe I can harass her until she finishes my damn story..."

[Author starts running from James]

[James starts running faster towards the author "Come back here!"]

"Helppppp!"

James tackles the author to the ground. "Why didn't you update?! Why didn't you update?! C'mon just do it, stop making excuses, **do it, just do it! Don't let your dreams be dreams! Yesterday you said tomorrow! So just do it! Make your update dreams come true, just do it! Some people dream of updating while you're gonna wake up and work hard at it! Nothing is impossible!"**

"But I'm worried I'm going to screw up and it's going to suck and ruin the whole story!"

"You already wrote this chapter didn't you, how much worse can it get?!"

"You're right, this chapter is retarded, I'll probably lose all my readers."

"So just write the ending damn it, make your dreams come true! Stop coming up with excuses."

"You're right, I just need to DO IT!"

"SO DO IT!" James screams in the author's ears. "I'll be with you every step of the way, harassing you and making sure you get it done! DO IT! I'll be that voice in your head until you update! So just do it, nothing is impossible!"

* * *

Bibliography:

*Shia LaBouef's "Just do it" references in bold.


End file.
